[Bubblehead1980]

TMO Update BH V2.0
100 difficulty. Cams on, map contacts off.



USS CISCO SS-290
War Patrol Four. Patrol off Palau prior to Lifeguard Duty in support of
Operation Desecrate I (air strikes on Palau and Yap by carriers)



On 21 March received ULTRA regarding enemy submarine departing southern entrance to Palau sometime on 23 March. On 22 March proceeded to assume position from patrol area south of Angaur Island, Palau.



Arrived position 10 miles off Southern entrance to lagoon morning of 22 March,
submerged for patrol through the day, surfaced at 2200. Avoided a PC in area.

At 0505 made SJ contact at 29,000 yards on a small convoy preparing to enter the lagoon. Called General Quarters and began tracking. Convoy
was identified in the pre dawn light as one AK, one AO, one DE escorting course 070 10 knots. With dawn breaking, conditions were not suitable for surface attack, so submerged for attack.


At 0616 fired six MK 23-1 torpedoes from tubes 1,2,3,4,5,6. Three at AO, three at AK.


Three torpedoes hit the tanker, setting it on fire and breaking it in two.


The AK slowed and began turn to port when torpedoes hit the tanker, causing two to miss ahead, but one torpedo hit the bow, cause severe visible damage and fire.


The Momi Class DD/DE began pinging almost immediately. CISCO rigged for depth charge and silent running, and dove for 450 ft.


The DE was soon above as CISCO neared 350 ft and leveled off to avoid
stern sticking protruding during the depth charge attack. As DE roared above, went Ahead Flank for speed burst for 35 seconds, then slowed to 1/3 speed with 15 degrees port rudder.

Depth charges exploded, two were close, causing minor damage in
aft torpedo room, including minor leaks and flooding, which was quickly controlled.

After this, CISCO continued on to 450 ft, while DE set up for another run.

Soon it was apparent that this escort was the enemy's first team, as stayed with CISCO and made increasingly accurate runs, causing damage each time.

CISCO leveled at 550 ft and the escort seemed to have difficulty tracking, but still stayed too close for comfort, making repeated depth charge runs.



A brief period of silence occurred, while he listened for CISCO, followed by
a prolonged period of pinging and then a very accurate DC attack, which caused forward torpedo room to take on some water, but flooding was quickly controlled.

CISCO now at 600 ft, was continually attacked by the persistent DE. Although he made several attacks not close to CISCO, as was having trouble
keeping accurate contact with her.


However, a close run revealed he had found the depth, CISCO went on to 650 ft and then 675. Although pinging continued for some time and many charges dropped, none were close enough to do more than shake the boat a bit and enemy lost contact. A total of 105 depth charges were tallied during this attack. Over next few hours more explosions were heard as CISCO slipped away at 675 ft. Secured from GQ , maintained silent running.

In the afternoon came to periscope depth, to find the DE still hunting in area of attack, dropping occasional depth charge. Also spotting a low flying MAVIS , scouring the area for CISCO.


In the later afternoon secured silent running and reloaded torpedo tubes,
surfaced after dark and patrolled in area, hoping to catch the enemy sub, if had not departed undetected or departed from another entrance.


At 2109, came to all stop to listen with hydrophones.

At 2111, sounds of distant light props were heard, set course to close
contact.SJ showed no contact.


Soon a surfaced submarine was spotted at 8200 yards on course 195, zigging. Obviously the submarine departed, but alerted to earlier attack,
was zigging. Submarine gave no indication had detected CISCO. Submarine was identified as a I-Class Japanese submarine.


Due to distance and difficulty tracking via radar, decided to go for the attack on surface. Called GENERAL QUARTERS-TORPEDO-SURFACE . Brought stern tubes to bare on target and backed down at 8 kts, slowing to 5 was we closed range.

Plotted the enemy's zigs along base course, which were roughly every 45-60 seconds 60 or so degrees in each direction. Submarine was maintaining speed of advance of 10 knots, even with the wild zigs. Calculated spread to fire two at middle of target, one at stern, and one at bow. With the spread and intervals for firing, this provided excellent coverage.


At 2140 Fired tubes 7,8,9,10 at I Class Submarine. 3050 yds. All four MK 23-1 torpedoes ran hot, straight, and normal.



2142 Two torpedoes missed ahead as sub made its swing to starboard, away from CISCO, but the third torpedo, which had been aimed at stern, impacted
the stern, in a sort of "up the pipes" shot as the AOB of the sub was about 170 degrees when torpedo hit. The explosion was large, and massive. A huge fireball flashed and loomed. About 4 seconds later, a massive secondary explosion, and a large, but smaller than first secondary also occurred, likely torpedoes cooking off in aft torpedo room.. The submarine sunk in 43 seconds at 6-52N 133-56E.
Further explosions were heard over next couple minutes as sub descended to the depths.


CISCO cleared area and secured GQ.


A busy but productive day with two ships sunk, one damaged.

Sunk:

AO ARARE MARU 2800 tons

I-Class Submarine 1800 tons


Damaged:

AK SURABAYA MARU 5186 tons.